Max can't handle the 76ers Hukporti helicopter talk

The 76ers lost their new backup center before the regular season even started, and Max has been reacting like a man who just lost a starter. This week's PMTV gave him the floor.

Barstool Sports

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The Hukporti injury may have taken years off of Max’s life, but all the “helicopter ride” talk may kill him. @thefarmersdog

Here's the actual injury. Hukporti, a 24-year-old 7-footer the Sixers signed in free agency in July, tore his right Achilles in the first quarter of the preseason opener against the Knicks on October 5. Nobody touched him. He went down on defense, grabbed his lower right leg and didn't return. He's had surgery, and ESPN's Shams Charania reported it's expected to end his season.

Is the Sixers' season riding on their backup center? No. This is the team that went out and added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown next to Joel Embiid. But a backup big on a roster built around Embiid's knees matters more than it would almost anywhere else. Now the job goes to Adem Bona, who held it for most of last season and is dealing with a foot sprain of his own. Behind him it's undersized options like Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker and Dean Wade, plus small-ball minutes with LeBron at the 5. Brown summed up how the locker room took it: 'It sucks to see a guy like that go down.'

That's the context for Max's panic. The helicopter-ride talk is the office's bit, and the clip makes it pretty clear he's the target. This is also a guy who spent the start of October going through the Phillies' playoff run in real time on the same show.

Pardon My Take

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“Playoff baseball is the worst. And the Phillies only play like classics.”

0:46

Big Cat clocked it on the Yak around the same time. The plan for a loaded sports night put Max on Phillies duty, because 'Max is so locked in on the Phillies when he streams.' Now the baseball sweat is over, basketball is here, and the first thing the Sixers gave him was a season-ending Achilles tear on a guy most of the league had barely heard of.

What's next is real games, and that won't calm him down. Every time Embiid sits, every time Bona's foot acts up and every time LeBron gets stuck guarding a true center, Max is going to feel it. And as long as he keeps reacting like this, the office isn't dropping the helicopter bit.